This invention relates to a process for producing methanol which uses steam reforming, e.g. steam reforming natural gas, and partial oxidation, e.g. partial oxidation of coal, as sources of the methanol synthesis gas. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a process which uses the methanol synthesis gas from steam reforming in a first methanol plant and effectively integrates a second methanol plant which uses as the methanol synthesis gas (a) the purge gas from the first methanol plant and (b) the clean syn-gas produced by partial oxidation.
The prior art discloses methods for producing methanol using natural gas as the hydrocarbon feed and other methods using coal as the hydrocarbon feed.